It’s the sort of thing you’re surprised doesn’t happen more often.
Solo violinist Elina Vähälä was performing with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland, with Matthew Hall conducting. All was going well until suddenly, the British conductor raised his left arm a bit too far and sent Vähälä’s instrument – a £1 million Guadagnini – flying.
Oh dear oh dear. As you can see from the footage, the music stopped. Hall apologised. Vähälä, though, thought quickly, and was able to cushion the precious instrument’s plummet to the floor. "It was incredible that I managed to get my foot in the way,” she said later.
Conductor accidentally knocks £1million violin out of player's hands and sends it crashing to the floor mid-concert.Matthew Halls swung his arms and baton during a performance of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1 at Sibelius Hall in Lahti, Finland, and struck the priceless… pic.twitter.com/z0L9zqOHjDApril 22, 2026
As you can see, she stooped, dusted the violin down and after a wee bit of tuning up, resumed the piece she and the orchestra were performing – Max Bruch’s violin concerto. The show went on.
Fortunately there was no lasting damage to the instrument, as Vähälä later explained: "My Guadagnini is perfectly fine! And therefore - so am I.”
"The violin was thoroughly examined by luthier Jarkko Niemi. There are no cracks or even scratches, nothing is broken. The top was slightly detached from the ribs, which is a safety measure in cases of sudden humidity or pressure changes, preventing cracking. It has been glued back in place.”
And she attached no blame to Hall. “Music making with Sinfonia Lahti and conductor Matthew Halls was a tremendous pleasure and inspiration,” she said. “Matthew is a musician of the finest calibre and I can’t wait to work with him again. The orchestra sounded gorgeous. I am happy that we managed to finish the concerto despite of the scary interruption. The audience was breathing every second with us with full attention! What an evening.”
